Entertainment Partners Responsible 2023 Data Breach Affecting 471K People, Class Action Says

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A proposed class action alleges Entertainment Partners’ “deficient” cybersecurity resulted in a “massive and preventable” data breach reportedly discovered by the company in late June 2023.

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The 35-page lawsuit says Entertainment Partners, which handles payroll and residual payments for clients in the entertainment industry, discovered on June 30 that cybercriminals had gained unauthorized access to its computer network. A subsequent investigation revealed that the perpetrator had acquired files containing personal information belonging to 471,362 individuals, including names, mailing addresses, and Social Security and/or tax identification numbers, the case shares.

The filing alleges that Entertainment Partners’ failure to properly safeguard consumers’ private information has exposed affected individuals to an increased risk of identity theft and fraud. According to the complaint, victims will need to spend countless hours and large amounts of money to monitor their accounts for unauthorized activity for years to come.

Entertainment Partners was “fully aware” that it had a legal duty to protect the data stored within its system, and it knew that its failure to fulfill this obligation would have significant repercussions, the case contends.

“Nevertheless, Defendant failed to spend sufficient resources on preventing external access, detecting outside infiltration, and training its employees to identify threats and defend against them,” the suit says.

In fact, the lawsuit alleges that Entertainment Partners’ refusal to disclose when the data breach began and ended suggests that cybercriminals were allowed unfettered access to its systems for “quite some time.”

The plaintiff, a California resident, says she provided her personal information to an entity that contracts for services from Entertainment Partners. Although Entertainment Partner claims to have discovered the breach as early as June 30, the plaintiff and other affected individuals had no idea their data was compromised until they received a notice letter from the defendant dated August 1, the case relays.

Per the suit, the defendant has violated the Federal Trade Commission Act’s requirement that companies provide victims with “prompt and specific notice” of a data breach “without reasonable delay.”

The lawsuit looks to cover anyone in the United States whose personal information was compromised as a result of the Entertainment Partners data breach and who received a notice letter.

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